忠実な犬
by NekoFoxYokai
Summary: ADOPTED. Inuyori is Kagome & Inuyasha's daughter, but when a vengeful demon pulls her into the Bone-eaters's Well she doesn't end up going to the future to Kagome's era, but somewhere else...
1. Prologue

**Neko: your Christmas present is a new story! yay! :D**

**Fox: (too busy unwrapping presents)**

**Neko: merry Christmas everyone! :)**

**Fox: what is this? (takes out a Kon plushie from a present)**

* * *

**Disclaimer: we don't own Naruto or Inuyasha :P**

* * *

**忠実な犬**

_Prologue_

Inuyasha hacked away the demon's claw away with his Tetsusaiga before it could get close to Kagome and the others. He dodged the giant claws the bull-headed demon with a serpent like body and four arms directed as its attack as the arm Inuyasha just cut off regenerated itself. He clenched his teeth in frustration. He'd defeated stronger demons than this before, mainly Naraku, but if it weren't for this demon's damn regenerating abilities he'd already be done with this. He heard his wife's shallow breathing from behind him as she started going into labor. Sango and Miroku ignored the battle as they tried to help Kagome, while she practically broke Shippo's hand. Inuyasha growled at the demon in front of the Bone-eater's Well. Kagome needed to go to her world for better medical attention that they could give here, since there seemed to be some complications in her pregnancy, but this stupid demon have to come _now_ of all times!

"You're really pissing me off!!" Inuyasha roared as he charged the demon with his Tetsusaiga raised, ready to use the wind scar again on this stupid demon. His eyes turned red and swung his sword, but the demon regenerated again, further pissing him off.

The demon laughed triumphantly. "You puny half-breed! You can't defeat me!"

Inuyasha grunted in annoyance as he dodged another claw. Over the years he'd lost count how many demons had said that to him. He glanced back at Kagome and knew she wasn't doing so well. He had to end this quickly. He glared at the demon and charged again. He didn't know what he was doing this time, but he let himself go on instinct as his demon half started to take over. He dodged attacks until he was in front of the demon, he jumped up and stabbed the demon's head with his Tetsusaiga crudely. "Wind Scar!" he growled as he swung his sword while still in the demon's head, completely obliterating it. Small chunks of the demon started to fall down littering around the well, but Inuyasha didn't care. He ran back to Kagome, intending to carry her the rest of the way, but stopped short as he heard the demon's retarded laugh come from behind him. He turned just in time to see the chunks behind him start to regroup and reform the demon slowly, but what shocked him was that within monstrous blob, tentacles shot out and wrapped around Inuyasha, making him drop his sword. He struggled against the binds, but his arms were tied down and couldn't move.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled out in concern but she yelped as a spasm of pain passed through her body. Sango hushed her as she and Miroku prepared for her to give birth any minute now. Shippo was nowhere to be seen, but that didn't matter to Inuyasha right now.

Inuyasha roared in rage and with newfound strength he broke through the demon's tentacles and grabbed his sword, transforming it into its true form from the old chipped piece of metal it was on the ground. He charged the demon's mutant remains, ready to finish it off. Time suddenly seemed to stop as he swung his giant sword again, using the wind scar, only for it to miss as a tentacle quickly wrapped around his wrist. Time reverted back to normal for him to see the Bone-eater's Well destroyed. He didn't have time to fully comprehend this when a sacred arrow suddenly flew by him, barely missing him by an inch. The arrow hit the demon he'd been fighting causing it to implode, just like that, making Inuyasha feel stupid. After all that, it took an arro0w to stop that stupid thing.

He glared behind him as he saw Kaede and some of the villagers arrive. Kaede wasting no time, began to help Kagome through labor. It was too late now to go to Kagome's era, and she was in no condition to move now. Inuyasha dashed to his wife's side and took her hand in his as she began to scream out in pain.


	2. Inuyori忠実な犬

**忠実な犬**

_Chapter 1:_

_Inuyori(__忠実な犬__)_

"Inuyori, you know we're not supposed to be here…" a small six year old girl with black hair in a low ponytail and brown eyes, wearing a plain green kimono and white obi, said meekly as she trailed behind another six year old girl with hazel eyes, long messy silver hair, and small dog ears on her head, wearing a red firerat kimono and white obi.

Inuyori turned to the other girl with a low growl. "You didn't have to come along Kagome, I told you not to even bother." she snapped as she kept on walking on the old worn out path in the forest behind the village.

"B-but I didn't want you to go all by yourself, what if a demon attacked you?" Kagome said shyly as she fidgeted with her fingers.

Inuyori rolled her eyes. "Tsh, like you'd be any help if _that_ happened. You'd only slow me down." she answered snidely.

"You're so mean Inuyori!" Kagome cried out with tears in her eyes.

"And I should care?" she brushed off as she kept on walking.

"Fine! I don't care if you're eaten by demons!" Kagome sobbed as she ran back toward the village.

"Tsh, weakling." Inuyori scoffed as she glanced back at her twin sister run off before turning back toward where the Bone-eater's Well _used_ to be. It was also the place their mother had dies giving birth to the two of them six years ago.

* * *

Inuyasha was chopping some firework behind Kaede's hut when one of his daughters came running up to him crying. "Hey what's wrong?" he asked as he crouched down to her level and wrapped an arm around the sobbing Kagome. She looked so much like Kagome that he'd named his daughter after her. Heedless to say, Inuyori looked and acted more like him when he was younger. He'd matured more over the years, being a single dad and all. He'd even decided to stay in Kaede's village so his daughters could grow up without having to constantly be attacked by demons.

"Inuyori was being mean again!" Kagome bawled as she wiped some tears from her face with her kimono sleeves. Inuyasha sighed, he'd figured as much.

"What'd she do this time?" he asked patiently as he sat down and sat Kagome on his lap.

"She was going to the Bone-eater's Well even though you told her not to go there!" Kagome sobbed.

"She _what_?!" Inuyasha asked as his eyes widened.

"I told her not to go!" Kagome cried thinking it was her fault as Inuyasha set her down on the ground.

"Stay here at Kaede's, I'm going to go get her ok?" he asked her.

She nodded and wiped away some more tears. Inuyasha ruffled her hair playfully, making her understand he wasn't mad at her before he jumped into the trees in a shortcut toward the Bone-eater's Well. Inuyori _never listens, _he thought in annoyance as he ran.

* * *

Inuyori walked toward the broken inverted pile of wood in the middle of the clearing which was starting to be overgrown by vines. She scoffed as she looked around. It didn't look dangerous so why did her dad always tell Kagome and her not to come over here? Sure, it was a little too far from the village, but nothing ever happened here. Most demons were too afraid of the great Inuyasha who defeated Naraku, and those that didn't usually just didn't care to bother with killing humans.

She looked around and crouched down with her back to the pile of wood as she spotted a giant run down gouge in the ground. She traced her finger in the long trench and noticed there were more beside it, almost like giant claws had raked through the ground.

"I wonder what did this…" she thought out loud.

* * *

_Finally_! the demon thought as it looked out through the rubble of what was left of the well. It was the same demon that had fought with Inuyasha six years ago. Over the years it'd regrouped it's body, using the power which resided in this well to help it regenerate itself. It watched the small child which looked like the half-breed that almost killed it that night six years ago. It was obviously one of the demon's children born that very night. It grinned maliciously as it stealthily brought a tentacle out behind her and wrapped it around her torso and brought her within the well.

* * *

Inuyasha heard a scream up ahead and quickened his pace as he recognized it was Inuyori's voice. He broke through the tree line only to see the clearing was empty. He looked around frantically but he didn't see anything out of the ordinary except that the well had caved in on itself and had vines growing from it.

"Inuyori!" He called out as he went to search for her.


	3. Not In Kansas Anymore

**忠実な犬**

_Chapter 2:_

_Not In Kansas Anymore_

"Let go of me you slimy freak!" Inuyori grit out as she struggled against the mutant demon's gross tentacles that had wrapped around her wrists and torso.

"Never! I'll get my revenge on that half-breed Inuyasha and if that means taking someone precious then so be it!" the demon screeched like the cliché demon it is as it opened its jaw, preparing to eat her.

"NO!" Inuyori screamed, instinctively bringing her arms up to defend herself, though she didn't know how'd that help. What she didn't expect was that a sudden purple light to erupt from her hands, making part of the demon that touched her to be completely incinerated, making her fall on her butt on bottom of the well.

"What?! The Shikon Jewel?!" it screeched as it's lost body parts started to regenerate. "I heard it was taken with Kikyo to the afterlife!"

Inuyori remembered what her father had told her about the Shikon no Tama once. He'd said it was the reason he'd met her mother since she was the reincarnation of Kikyo the priestess. He'd laughed at the memory when he told both Kagome and her about how it was their mother's klutziness which caused the giant search for the Shikon jewel shards over six years ago and mentioned the group they traveled with. Of course there wasn't much to say about them since they already knew Uncle Miroku and Aunt Sango along with their son Kohaku who was a year younger than both Kagome and her and named after Sango's deceased younger brother. Not to mention Shippo who was twice their age and had grown over the years. Then he'd told them how they'd defeated Naraku and Kikyo had once again sacrificed herself to bind the Shikon no Tama to the netherworld.

She watched in fascination as the purple glow from her hands start to fade away, but there was no trace of the jewel anywhere. "A half-breed with a priestess's powers!" the demon hissed with a hint of fear as it recoiled away, finally just choosing to slither out of the well altogether.

"What the hell just happened?" Inuyori asked rhetorically as she sat there dumbly for a few seconds. "Well there's no use staying here…" she sighed and started climbing out of the well which looked more like a crude pit than anything else. "If anything else, it'd just be easier for that demon to eat me if I stay here." she grumbled as she climbed out.

Inuyori gasped as she looked around at the inside of a run down wooden hut. "Where am I?" she asked no one in particular as she walked up some rickety old stairs and looked out through the giant whole in the broken down paper doors which must have been caused by the demon. She saw the stairs that lead out of the place and then it was a bamboo forest. Taking out a red bandanna from within her sleeve, she tied it over her head, hiding her ears from view. She didn't know what kind of people she'd meet here, but she knew that there were some who'd attack her for being a half-demon and she didn't have her dad with her now to protect her. She stepped out of the hut cautiously and dashed down the stairs and into the bamboo, obscuring her from view if the demon was still around. She sniffed the floor, trying to find out where it went so she'd go in the opposite direction.

She sweatdropped when she found its scent headed in the direction of the broken bamboo. How did she not see that before? She shrugged and began going in another direction.

* * *

"_Hey_, mom and dad said not to leave the village…" a little girl whined as she trailed behind her older brother.

"Shut up! I didn't tell you to follow me!" he snapped shoving her away.

Inuyori suddenly felt a sense of nostalgia and realized she had been a jerk to Kagome as she watched the two siblings from above them in a tree branch. She'd only sat down for a break after finding her way out of the bamboo forest to normal trees when she spotted the two coming her way. She watched as the older boy stomped off while the little girl around her age sat down where he'd pushed her and cried.

She knew this wasn't Kagome, but her guilt made her want to stop her from crying. She jumped down, landed down below the tree away from view, and walked up to the girl. "Hey are you ok?" she asked as she tilted her head.

The girl looked up in surprise. "W-who are you?" she sniffled with a slightly angry look at being caught crying as she gave Inuyori's clothes a funny look just as Inuyori was doing the same thing. The girl wore a light blue shirt with an orange spiral on it and black shorts, which in Inuyori's opinion was a pretty weird getup considering that where she came from everyone wore kimonos. The girl also had waist length red hair that were up in two pigtails and dark blue eyes. She didn't smell like a demon, plus kitsunes were better at disguises than that.

"I'm Inuyori, what's you're name?" she asked as she sat down beside the girl who had stopped crying.

"I'm Kushina, want to be friends?" the girl said smiling, completely forgetting why she was crying a few minutes ago.

"Sure," Inuyori shrugged. "But I'm looking for Kaede's village, maybe you know it?"

Kushina shook her head. "No sorry. Hey! maybe my dad knows! He's the Uzukage and the head of the Uzumaki clan!" she declared proudly as she stood up.

Inuyori blinked. "Never heard of it." she deadpanned, making Kushina loose some of her vigor. Inuyori stood up too anyway and dusted herself off.

"C'mon, maybe when you've found your village we can play ninja!" Kushina said happily as she latched onto Inuyori's wrist and pulled her in the direction she came from. Inuyori faintly wondered what kind of game ninja was.

* * *

"Kaede's Village? Sorry, never heard of it, do you know what country it's in?" Kushina's dad asked from behind a giant stacks of paper on his desk which hid him from view. Kushina turned to in question to Inuyori who shrugged.

"Hey, papa, since my friend has nowhere to go now can she stay with us?" Kushina asked excitedly.

"Ask your mom, you know her word is law in her house." he brushed off.

"Yay!" Kushina pumped her fist in the air and grabbed Inuyori's wrist again and ran out of her dad's office. Once they were out of his office, Kushina led her down the hallway in the dojo-like house. "My mom will like you, I'm sure!" Kushina said over her shoulder. "She likes it when girls wear kimonos, she's always trying to get me in one." she said while she rolled her eyes. "I bet your mom made you wear yours huh?" she asked.

Inuyori looked down. "My mom's dead." she mumbled awkwardly, making Kushina stop suddenly.

"Oh, I'm sorry…" Kushina said apologetically, before she smiled. "My mom can be you're mom too! I don't mind sharing!" she said before she started walking again.

Inuyori grinned and followed. She bet Kagome would like Kushina, something about her just drew people to her.

* * *

"Aren't you the cutest little thing!" Kushina's mom said when she first saw her. She looked just like Kushina, only like an older version, in fact they were so similar is was creepy. She wore a simple orange kimono with white flower pattern and a light blue obi with an orange spiral on it. "See Kushina? You're friend has no problem wearing kimonos, so why don't you?" she snapped at her daughter who crossed her arms and looked away.

"No way! I'm training to become a ninja! Konoichi have no need for being girly and wearing kimonos!" Kushina said sticking her tongue out.

"What a rude girl you are! And I thought I raised you better!" her mom yelled as she threw the center table at her daughter who dodged it expertly.

"Haha! Missed me! I doubt you'll ever be able to land a hit me you old hag!" Kushina taunted only to almost be hit in the face with a vase.

Inuyori only gaped at the scene as the angry mother threw various objects at her daughter who dodged them, though they both managed to destroy the living room and all the paper doors. She wondered if all mothers were this violent or angry. She faintly remembered how her father said her mom used to have her moments of angry fits (mainly consisting of rapid sits).

"I'm hom- _what the hell?!!_ You two ruined the living room _again?!_"

Inuyori turned around to see Kushina's brother enter the room. He looked to be a few year older than her and he had spiked back red hair that was almost black that had a small low ponytail in the back that reached below his waist with goggles on his forehead above his grey eyes. He wore an outfit similar to Kushina's except he had a kunai pouch and shuriken holster and his shirt was white instead of light blue.

"Hello, who are you?" he asked once he noticed Inuyori.

"She's Inuyori! My new friend and she's going to be living with us from now on!" Kushina said, popping out of nowhere beside Inuyori.

"Inuyori? Doesn't that mean loyal dog? What are you an Inuzuka from Konoha?" he asked suspiciously.

Inuyori gave him a confused look. "Inuzuka? Are they a dog demon clan or something?" she asked.

Kushina and her brother gave her funny looks before he burst out laughing. "I like her, she's ok!" he laughed as he walked away to his room.

"Did I say something weird?" Inuyori asked Kushina who giggled.

"Yeah," she said as she started to lead Inuyori to her own room. "That was my brother Sanosuke by the way, he hates Inuzukas. The Inuzukas are a shinobi clan from Konoha, an ally of Uzu, they use dogs as their companions in a fight which I think is kinda cool. He just doesn't like them because a genin about a few years older than him kicked his ass when he challenged her to a spar!" Kushina laughed. "That idiot's still an academy student too!"

Inuyori chuckled as her demon hearing faintly picked up the sound of Sanosuke repeatedly banging his head on the wall after he heard Kushina through the paper sliding doors as the two of them walked down the hall.

"This is my room!" Kushina said as she opened a sliding door. Inuyori half expected it to be an oriental style room like how the rest of the house looked, but the only thing that went with that theme was the door. She had a western style bed with a nightstand next to it and a giant chest on the opposite side of the room next to a closet, other than that the room seemed pretty empty except for the circular rug in the center of the room which was black with an orange spiral.

"What with all the spirals?" Inuyori asked bluntly as she stared at the rug.

"It's the Uzumaki clan symbol!" Kushina declared proudly, puffing out her chest. "The Uzumaki clan founded Uzugakure, so you could say we're a noble clan!"

"I can see why your mother wants you to wear a kimono all the time…" Inuyori mumbled. "A noble lady should dress like one shouldn't she?" she continued as she saw Kushina's confused look Kushina pouted, making Inuyori laugh. "Though your clothes do seem more comfortable."

"That's exactly why I wear them, plus kimonos just aren't made for fighting!" Kushina said obnoxiously as she plopped down on her bed.

"You're really weird." Inuyori commented, half expecting Kushina to protest, but instead she laughed.

"Thanks!" she said grinning, making Inuyori grin as well. She had a feeling they'd be good friends.

* * *

"Ok class settle down!"

Arashi sighed as he looked out of the window from his seat. He had black shaggy hair that was probably a little too long and icy blue eyes which were filled with boredom as class started. He wore a black fishnet tank top, both his arms were covered completely in bandages, black pants with bandages going from below his knees to his black sandals. He looked over at the door as his friend Kushina arrived in the room, soon followed by another girl. He blinked in surprise as he looked at the new girl with interest. Her most striking features which immediately caught his attention along with the rest of the class were that her hair was silver and eyes were hazel, features that were really rare in Uzugakure. The main features in Uzugakure were red or black hair and blue or grey eyes, so she looked really different. She wore a red bandana which completely covered the top of her head and a short red kimono with a white obi and black leggings underneath with red ninja sandals.

"Uzumaki! You're late again!" Mataro-sensei yelled with a vein on his forehead as he pointed accusingly at Kushina who just rolled her eyes.

"Whatever sensei, I was just showing my friend Inuyori around cuz she's new here." she replied cheekily as she crossed her arms.

Inuyori walked up to Mataro-sensei and handed him a piece of paper as the class exploded into excited whispers. Kushina made her way over to Arashi and sat down next to him. "So what do you think?" she asked casually.

Arashi examined Inuyori with a critical eye. "I dunno, she'll have to pass the test before I can say." he said flippantly while still managing to look bored the whole time.

* * *

Inuyori looked at the class nervously as she mentally prepared what she would say since Mataro-sensei said to introduce herself. She fidgeted nervously with the hem of her kimono which Kushina's mom altered so she could still wear it to the academy as a battle dress. "My name's Inuyori, I like dogs, gardening, and ramen. I dislike cats, squirrels, weaklings, and people who underestimate me." she said before going over and sitting down in the empty seat next to Kushina who grinned at her.

* * *

Class was boring since Mataro-sensei decided to review everything they'd done since Inuyori was new, and even after all that she still didn't understand what chakra was. After class was over, Inuyori immediately got swarmed by a crowd of girls. "Hi, I'm Leiko," the supposed leader of the group said arrogantly. She had light red-almost pink hair that reached to below her knees and aqua blue eyes and wore a skimpy pink konoichi dress. Inuyori immediately classified the girl in the 'weakling' category. "My! What pretty hair you have!" Leiko said with false sweetness as she grabbed a lock of Inuyori's hair, making her twitch. No one, and she meant _no one _was allowed to touch her hair besides Kagome.

"Thanks, I would say the same for you if yours was half as nice." Inuyori said coolly as she took her hair from Leiko's grasp as she gave her an offended look. The other girls in the group looked shocked.

"Look here, _bitch_, you're new around here so you probably don't know those who are _superior_ to you yet, so I'll let you off with a warning." Leiko sneered condescendingly. "Don't you dare go after my Arashi-kun, he's _mine_!"

Inuyori scoffed at her 'threat'. "Tsh, whatever, I don't even know who this Arashi person is." she said as she walked away to the door where Kushina was waiting for her along with the boy that was seated at their table, leaving a fuming Leiko.

* * *

"So what do you think now?" Kushina asked once Inuyori joined them and they headed out of the academy, snickering at the scene that just passed.

Arashi chuckled. "She passes. Anyone who can just brush off the head fangirl is ok in my book."

"Huh?" Inuyroi asked.

"Oh, right. Inuyori, this is my friend Arashi Kazama." Kushina introduced.

"Your fangirls just threatened me." Inuyori said in realization as she pointed to him.

He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah sorry about that, they're crazy… and persistent…" he laughed in a weak attempt to hide a shudder.

"I'll say," Kushina snorted. "Last week they hounded me about what your favorite _color_ was. I had to beat them all up again just so they'd leave me alone!"

"Favorite color?" Inuyori asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, you'd think it was obvious that it's black by now!" Kushina complained.

Arashi shrugged. "Hey, it's not my fault their stupid too."

"Well enough about fan girls! Let's go play ninja!" Kushina said as they made their way out of the academy.

* * *

Inuyori looked at herself in the bathroom mirror in wonder. She had a small hand mirror from her mother so she knew what it was, but she'd never really looked at herself that well. Her hands traveled to the small pointed ears on her head and tweaked them. She giggled since it tickled. Her bandana was on the floor with the rest of her clothes as the bathwater was running. She looked over at the steaming water and smiled as she turned off the water. Getting a bath ready was a lot easier here than where she came from.

She sighed as she relaxed in the water that felt like a hot spring. She wondered if this was where her mother came from. This place didn't seem at all like the feudal era, and when she'd asked everyone gave her funny looks again. She dunked her head in the water and came back out when she needed to breathe. She'd heard her mother was a very hygienic person, and liked taking baths a lot, which wasn't a trait many people had in what Inuyori now named 'her era', but if baths were like this where her mom came from, she didn't blame her for liking them.

* * *

"Hey Inuyori! I got you some spare clothes!" Kushina said as she knocked on the door to the bathroom.

Inuyori opened the door and took the clothes and shut the door before Kushina could see her ears. There was a slight pause form the other side of the door as Inuyori looked at the clothes Kushina had brought her. It was a plain light blue two piece pajama set with an orange swirl on the back.

"Sorry if they don't fit all that well, their my extra pajamas." Kushina said from the other side of the door while Inuyori put it on.

"They fit fine." she said once it was on, though it was a little too baggy. She put on her bandanna, gathered up her clothes, and stepped out.

"You really shouldn't wear a bandanna when your hair's wet," Kushina said as she took off Inuyori's bandanna before she could do anything. Her eyes widened as she stared as the two ears on her head twitch.

"Uh, I can explain?"


	4. Acceptance

**Fox: even though my comp still kind of dead we managed to make this for you guys**

**Neko: :D yay you get something at least**

**忠実な犬**

_Chapter 3:_

_Acceptance_

Kushina gaped at the dog ears on Inuyori's head. As her mind was slowly digesting the fact that her friend had _dog ears_, Sanosuke walked up the hallway while distractedly rummaging through his kunai pouch.

"Hey Kushina have you seen my fuma shuri-" he said, but turned to Inuyori and stopped short. "Holy crap! Are those real?!!" he exclaimed as he reached out and tweaked her ears, making Inuyori to giggle as her ears twitched. "So cool! Is this some kind of bloodline?!" he asked excitedly, making Kushina snap out of her stupor.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a bloodline?!" she asked as she pushed Sanosuke aside and tweaked Inuyori's ears. "They're so cute!" she cooed.

"Uh, I dunno, I thought they'd make you freak out…" Inuyori managed to say through giggles. She hadn't expected anyone to _ever_ say they were cute. She was used to people recoiling and calling her a demon when they saw her ears.

"Well it definitely explains your name," Sanosuke grinned. "So what clan are you from? I've never heard of this bloodline."

"Huh? I don't really have a surname… I think my mom's was Higurashi, don't quote me on it…" Inuyori said awkwardly as she fidgeted with the hem of her pjs and her ears twitched nervously.

"No surname? That's weird." Sasnosuke mumbled.

"I know! You can be an Uzumaki like us!" Kushina exclaimed happily.

"Inuyori Uzumaki, yeah that has a nice ring to it."

The three of them turn to see a man with spiky black haired man in his mid thirties with light blue-almost grey eyes. He wore a black shirt with the sleeves ripped off and an orange spiral on the back and dark orange pants.

"Dad!" Kushina exclaimed in surprise noticed she still had Inuyori's bandanna, so she quickly gave it back.

Inuyroi was about to put it back on, when Sanosuke suddenly stopped her. "Hey, don't cover them up. Like Kushina said, they're… cute." he said a small blush appeared on his cheeks. Inuyori felt her face grow hot though she didn't know why. She decided to just keep her bandanna in her hands.

"So Inuyori, do you want to be an Uzumaki?" Kushina's dad said with a sudden shit-eating grin. That blush exchange didn't go unnoticed by him.

"Um," she started as she looked down at her feet. She remembered her family back in Kaede's village. Her dad and Kagome were probably looking for her. She felt a sudden pang of guilt as she realized she hadn't even thought about how worried they'd be when she didn't come home. She was being selfish, as much as she hated to admit it. She'd settled right in with Kushina and her family without thinking about them. She looked at Kushina and Sanosuke and saw their hopeful looks. They wanted her here. But she had to go back to her own family.

Kushina's dad nodded as he understood her silence. "You still want to find your family in Kaede's Village right?" he asked.

Inuyori nodded. "I don't think its right to just forget about them."

Kushina looked down and pouted, while Sanosuke kept quiet. Their dad scratched the back of his head as he looked at Inuyori thoughtfully. "You may never find them you know." he said sympathetically.

Inuyori winced. She knew that already. This sounded a lot like what happened to her mother. She'd fallen in a well and came to a different era. Inuyori's eyes widened. "The well!" she exclaimed suddenly.

"What well?" Kushina asked, but Inuyori ignored her and ran past them, out of the house. "Hey wait! Inuyori!" she called after her as she went to catch up, leaving Sanosuke with his dad in the hallway.

"Maybe she remembered how to get back home…" Sanosuke whipped his head to look at his father, Takeshi. He shrugged and continued. "Maybe she'll change her mind and stay…"

Sanosuke looked down before he ran off after her leaving a grinning father behind. "They grow up so fast…" he said with a mock tear, but it was ruined as he burst out laughing.

* * *

Little Kagome sobbed into Shippo's shoulder. The teenage boy just held her comfortingly like an older brother would, trying his best not to cry as well. He'd made a promise not to cry anymore after Kagome's death. He looked over at Sango who tucked her son to sleep in a futon and Miroku who was solemnly poking the fire. Kaede stepped in her hut, making everyone turn to her questioningly. She shook her head sadly. "There be no trace of thee girl. Inuyasha has not yet given up searching for her, but I do not sense her demonic presence."

Kagome gave out a loud wail as she buried herself further in Shippo's arms. "It's my fault! It's all my fault!" she sobbed. "She was eaten by demons! I shouldn't have left her alone!"

"Kagome-chan, nobody blames you." Shippo said solemnly as he wiped some tears from her face. "What could Inuyori say if she saw you?" he smiled, trying to cheer her up.

Kagome seemed to calm down a little as she wiped her tears as she remembered all the times her sister somehow made her feel better in her own way. "She'd say…"

_**Flashback 1**_

"_Hey why're you crying?"_

"_Some of the other kids took my doll!" Kagome cried._

"_Pathetic." Inuyori growled, making Kagome gasp as she literally kicked her out of the house. "Go get it back stupid!"_

_**Flashback 2**_

"_Hey stupids! Up here!"_

_The bullies that surrounded Kagome looked up at Inuyori as she stood on the rooftop of one of the huts. "You talking to us?" one of them growled._

"_You looked up didn't you?" she answered as she distractedly looked at her nails._

"_Why you-" one of them hissed and held up a fist but was stopped short as Inuyori's bare foot made friends with his face._

_Kagome looked at her sister in awe as Inuyori landed in front of her. The other bullies chickened out and ran away. "Hey weakling, what's with the tears?" she asked with a smirk as she looked at her over her shoulder._

_**Flashback 3**_

"_Inuyori, why do you always wear that bandanna whenever there are foreigners traveling past our village?" Kagome asked as the two of them walked home. Kagome now held her doll they'd gotten back from the bullies._

"_Because Kagome, unlike you I'm a half-demon and not a lot of people appreciate people like me." Inuyori bristled and walked away._

_**Flashback 4**_

"_Hey, what the heck are you crying about _now_?" Inuyori asked in annoyance._

"_None of the kids want to play with me anymore, they're too scare of you." she sniffled._

"_Who cares?" Inuyori snapped. Kagome stopped crying and looked at her sister in awe at how strong she was as she walked out of their hut. "I'm going to the river." she said before she was out._

_Kagome wiped away her tears and ran after her. "Wait Inu-nii! I want to come too!"_

_**Flashback 5**_

"_So mom really used a bow and arrow?" Kagome asked as Inuyori pulled on her bowstring experimentally. It'd been days now that the two of them had hung out together since none of the other kids wanted to mess with Inuyori since she could kick their asses._

"_Yeah, dad said she sucked at first, but she got better with practice." Inuyori said as she held the string back like professional archer for five minutes before her hand gave out and the string went back to its original position with a dull swump. _

_Kagome jumped down from the boulder she was sitting on beside the river. "Hey can I try?" she asked eagerly._

_Inuyori blinked in surprise before she shrugged and handed her bow to her. "Sure, but it took me a while to be able to hold it back as long as I do. It may not look hard, but it takes a lot of strength to pull the bowstring all the way back." she said offhandedly._

_Kagome nodded as she awkwardly pulled the bowstring back, only for it to snap into her face. She gave out a sudden yelp of pain as she dropped the bow and clutched her sore face._

"_Ah! Why'd you do that for?!" Inuyori yelled angrily as she pulled Kagome's hands from her face and saw a large line-shaped welt swelling on the side of her face. She sigh in frustration as Kagome started crying from the pain and lead her closer to the river where she splashed her face with cold water. "You're such an idiot you know that?" she snapped as she got a cool flat stone and dunked it in water before gently pressing it against Kagome's face like an icepack, making her wince before that pain slowly started to numb away._

_**Flashback 6**_

"_Tsh, why the heck do you always follow me?" Inuyori asked in annoyance since it'd been more than a few months that Kagome had been following her around._

_Kagome shrugged to hide how much Inuyori's words hurt her. "None of the other kids want to play with me." she said offhandedly._

_Inuyori sweat dropped and scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "Yeah, that's probably my fault huh?" she asked. Kagome nodded, but Inuyori snorted. "Tsh, who needs them?" she snapped as she looked into the river's running water._

_Kagome suddenly felt the familiar stinging behind her eyes as she watched her strong willed sister start to throw stones across the water's surface. She tried to keep her tears at bay, but they soon flowed down her cheeks freely. Inuyori looked over at her sister in surprise as Kagome curled up in a fetal position._

"_Hey why are you crying _this_ time?" she asked in slight annoyance._

"_Do you think things would be different if mom was still alive?" Kagome asked, making Inuyori freeze in her tracks._

_She looked down, her bangs covering her eyes from view. "I dunno, maybe it would be different." she said, while Kagome's attention was solely on her twin sister who look nothing like her except for when she was human during a new moon. "But it doesn't change anything if we just mope around all the time and think of the 'what ifs'." Inuyori looked up with a fire raging in her eyes, making Kagome gasp. She looked down, suddenly depressed as she thought about how weak she was since she wished their mother was still alive. As if reading her mind, Inuyori continued. "I wouldn't mind knowing how it's like to have a mom though." she mumbled that last part mainly to herself and Kagome almost didn't catch it, but when she did she smiled._

_**Flashback 7**_

"_Quit your crying you weakling!" Inuyori chastised as Kagome cried about how she couldn't even pull back her bowstring all the way back. "If you give up now you're never going to get it right! Are you just going to give up? You're pathetic."_

_**Flashbacks End**_

Kagome wiped away her tears with newfound determination. _Thank you Inuyori, _she thought. _I swear I'll never be weak again…_

* * *

"You got here through _that_?" Kushina asked in disbelief as the three of them stood in front of the well.

Inuyori nodded. "Yeah, it's sounds weird, but its true."

"So you barely got here when you met up with us huh?" Sanosuke asked as he looked down at the bottom of the well.

"Yeah," Inuyori said suddenly unsure of herself. "Hey, if this doesn't work, is it ok if I stay with you guys?"

Kushina grinned. "Do you even have to ask?"

Inuyori smiled. "Thanks." she said before she took a deep breath and jumped into the well.


End file.
